Here Is Gone
by Aku Blossom
Summary: Boomer and Buttercup have been a couple for over three years now, and life could never be better. But, an elegant facade can only hide the shady complex for so long, and sometimes the end of an era is the inevitable.[OneShot]


**_Here Is Gone_**

**By Deus Ex Procella**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Powerpuff Girls or any related characters. Aggiepuff owns Brio.

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Lunch time, a sacred event held by all those to walk the halls of any educational institution to be of the utmost importance. A break from the seemingly senseless and morbid lecturing; a time out from the ridiculously dull and over-hyped labs and activities. For some it was simply a thirty minute period for eating in glorious amounts. Other relied on their full half hour break to rush at breakneck speeds to finish assignments due in the second part of the day. Lunch was a time of friends and fellowship, an intricate part of the student life. It was a time to gossip and reminisce, to plan the future and discuss at great length the present. Invaluable, it served a plethora of functions, even those that were looked down upon by the faculty. An example is that, for some, lunch was a time for some much needed PDA.

"Hey Boom Box," The boy in question looked up and grinned as the girl who had addressed him took her seat beside him. She was Buttercup Utonium of the Powerpuff Girls, and to the young man she was a sight for sore eyes. Buttercup's shimmering, raven hair greatly resembled what it had when she was but a young child; the few changes between now and then being that it no longer flipped up as it once had, and that it now bore twin locks of dyed green that struck a lovely frame about her tomboyish face. Style was rarely an issue for the super heroine; she simply dressed for comfort no matter how badly her attire clashed. Buttercup smiled at her significant other, Boomer Jojo of the Rowdyruff Boys, in a semi-seductive manner, which further widened the grin on his face.

"Wassup Reeses?" Boomer had retained practically all of his boyish charm, while gaining a somewhat manly demeanor that drove Buttercup wild. His dirty blond hair had grown out drastically, and lost much of its lift causing it to droop down. The back now reached down his neck and shortened on its way around until it just barely came past his earlobes and finally ended up just past his eyebrows. Grown out as it was, it was very well kept and cleaned, taking away from its dirty look. Unlike his green-eyed companion, he did have some rhyme and reason to his wardrobe. Blue jeans, collared shirts, and the occasional dress shirt and dress pants combo had rightfully earned Boomer his "pretty boy" status. Currently, his facial hair was somewhat grown out, giving his visage a rugged—yet not disgustingly so—feel.

"Not much," buttercup leaned close and pressed her lips lightly against his rough, stubbly cheek. She pulled back, sticking her tongue out and cringing, "you need to shave." Boomer felt his cheek and shrugged.

"I'll get around to it," he replied casually. Buttercup rolled her eyes and gave Boomer a cheeky grin. The arrogance of the gesture caused Boomer to do a double take and raise an eyebrow.

"You'd kill me if I felt that way about shaving," Boomer nearly gagged on his drink and passed a bewildered glance toward his girlfriend. Gagging once more he rubbed his chin and winced.

"No thank you, dearest, I'll shave tonight." Buttercup pumped her arm in a celebratory manner, chanting "yes!" to signal her victory and making Boomer chuckle.

Upon finishing her food, Buttercup stood and stretched. She shrieked and jumped in shock when Boomer suddenly slipped his arms around her waist and dragged her close to him in a tight hug. Smiling, she leaned down and cupped the sides of Boomer's face, turning it upward and pressing her lips against his. Buttercup nearly laughed at Boomer's eager reply, pressing his lips hungrily against hers.

The two remained close, Buttercup hugging Boomer's head tightly, long after they had broken their kiss. She finally pushed away, laughing finally at Boomer's dissatisfied groan. She had to struggle a little harder as he tightened his grip on her waist, but finally managed to pull away. Buttercup held his hands and swung them back and forth, shaking her head at Boomer with a bemused smile on her face.

"I've gotta meet someone for a class project, I'll catch you after school?" Boomer now stood as well, rubbing the hair on his chin thoughtfully.

"I need to run somewhere after we get out of this correctional facility, but I'll definitely meetcha when you get out of practice." Buttercup nodded eagerly in agreement and kissed him once more before hurrying off to work on her project. Boomer stared after her, laughing moronically to himself as he stared at her backside. He rolled his eyes and gathered up his few books before strolling over to another table—one more suited for the popular crowd.

This wasn't to say that Boomer wasn't popular—someone with his looks was far from "uncool" or "undesirable"—he merely opted to be alone when he was with Buttercup. He took great pleasure and comfort in the bond the two had when they were alone; they typically had to shield off some of their jokes and jargon to prevent others from becoming confused or uncomfortable. Casually he grabbed the shoulders of a particular Junior, making her scream and leap out of her seat.

"Boomer, I hate it when you do that!" Boomer laughed and plopped down into the seat ceremoniously reserved for his sitting pleasure when he chanced to grace the kings and queens of the school with his presence. He turned to the blond girl he'd scared and laughed, smiling at her in a friendly way.

"You always freak out Bubbles, I can't pass it up!" Bubbles smiled and shook her head, sighing in mock disapproval. She, quite like Boomer, had held tightly to the childish charm she had from day one, with just enough breath of maturity to make her a girl that every boy just had to have. Her blue eyes still sparkled with an innocence she should have long ago lost. Her luxurious gold-like hair now often found itself bound up in a high ponytail, with three locks of blue dyed hair hanging into her eyes. Bubbles' sense of fashion differed from the dressy clothing most would assume. Her sporty outfits and carefree attitude had easily become some of her most admirable qualities.

Boomer wrapped his arm around Bubbles' neck and yanked her into an almost asphyxiating embrace. In retaliation to this act of endearment, Bubbles feigned choking, making them both laugh—although most people at the table only rolled their eyes. Boomer loosened his old on Bubbles' neck and leaned forward into the myriad of gossip and breaking news that need only concern the "higher crowd". Most of the talking; however, stopped and every eye at the table fell on Boomer and Bubbles.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Boomer inquired, sounding quite alarmed at this potential disaster. Thinking frantically, he snatched Bubbles' purse and dug around until he found the compact she carried with her. Bubbles giggled wildly at Boomer's desperate actions; he was searching desperate with the mirror trying to uncover whatever atrocity had so horribly marred his face.

"Wow, could you two be any more obvious?" asked Bubbles' blond eyed and dyed blue haired friend, Cassandra. Bubbles blinked in confusion and Boomer peeked up from the compact with a raised eyebrow.

"What in the name of the Great Gazooks are you talking about?" Bubbles snickered then bust out laughing after Boomer said this, making him peer up and grin at her. Cassandra only rolled her eyes and gestured towards them.

"Look at you two! How long have you been dating? You're all over each other," Boomer and Bubbles looked up instantly in shock, glancing at each other and giving Cassandra a perplexed stare.

"Huh? Boomer is dating Buttercup, Cassie. He has been for the last three years." Boomer nodded quickly, closing the compact and placing it in Bubbles' purse.

"Yeah, seriously." Boomer tried to continue, but in his baffled sate he couldn't formulate anything other than these two simple words. Cassandra shrugged and returned to what she had been talking about. Bubbles and Boomer glanced at each other, then quickly looked away with strange looks on their faces.

* * *

"Brio! What are you doing here?" Buttercup ran up to her close friend, nearly tackling him. Brio laughed and caught her, ruffling her hair and smiling broadly.

"I had nothing to do so I thought, why not watch Butterbean at basketball practice?" Buttercup laughed and sat on the bleachers, with Brio joining soon after.

Brio was a mystifying fellow, whom Buttercup had only known for about two years now. He had spiky silver hair, that dropped down his back in a long ponytail that reached the middle of his back. His eyes were also a silvery shade, giving him a very exotic look. This combined with his naïve outward presentation gave him a definitely unique personality. He had no steady home, but he got by finding places to stay when the weather called for a shelter. Brio truthfully didn't need a warm bed to come home to because he was blessed with a special kind of chronic insomnia. His body simply never ran out of energy, so sleeping was a needless formality he'd long ago thrown away.

Along with his exotic appearance came an offbeat wardrobe. Today for example Brio wore a white undershirt with a bright emerald green and black jacket over it. His pants consisted of a pair of gray jeans, and black sneakers completed his attire. Buttercup leaned back, taking a short break before preparing to return to her harsh conditioning.

"Just once I'd like Coach to let me use my powers, I'd clean up all the other chumps," Brio laughed and cocked his head, leaning into Buttercup's line of sight.

"But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the game? I thought basketball was about having fun, not winning?" Buttercup shrugged and stood up, grinning at Brio.

"For me, they go together Bri. You can't have fun if you aren't winning!" Brio grabbed the back of her shorts and pulled her back, knocking her back onto the bleachers. Buttercup gasped in shock, then laughed and shoved Brio away. "You're such a loser, I have to get back to practice!"

Brio only grinned and laid back beside her. He turned and their eyes met. For the longest time they held this gaze before their cheeks began reddening. Buttercup's eyes half closed and she leaned in, but Brio sat up like a bolt of lightning, trying to catch his breath.

"No, no! Can't go there, you have a boyfriend, remember?" Buttercup snapped out of her daze and also sat up, her eyes wide and shaking.

"Y-yeah…Bo-Boomer and I have been dating for three years now." Brio swallowed the gargantuan lump in his throat and glanced bashfully at Buttercup, who smiled back. Behind the smile—which Buttercup couldn't hide from Brio—was confusion, disbelief, and mostly hurt. Brio, throwing caution and reason to the wind, put his arms around Buttercup and hugged her tightly. Buttercup didn't return the gesture, but her smile did seem to become more broken.

* * *

"Oh no!" Boomer sat up and stared out into the darkness of the living room, sweat cascading down his face in buckets. Bubbles sat up, red faced and panting and looked up at Boomer nervously.

"What's wrong Boomer?" Boomer looked down at Bubbles, who was currently beneath him from a rather heavy make—he blocked out the rest of that thought and slid off her lap. Bubbles sat up and put her arm around his shoulders comfortingly, although she was probably more nervous than he was.

"I have to meet Buttercup in about five minutes at your place. God, I need to get cleaned up," He quickly rose and headed into the bathroom, where he began to wash his face and brush his hair. Bubbles walked to the door and leaned against it, her eyes watering as she knelt down and picked up her shirt, which had been discarded about an hour ago. She wearily pulled it on and once again bit back tears as the door opened and Boomer walked out, now clean shaven and tidied up.

"What are we going to do Boomer? We can't keep doing this…not just because it isn't right but…she's my sister," Boomer nodded, picking his shirt up from the floor and putting it on.

"I'll…think about it…but I agree. We can't keep this up, it's not fair to you and it's definitely not fair to Buttercup…" Bubbles nodded and walked up to Boomer, hugging him tightly and shuddering. Boomer hugged her back, biting his lip to hide his watery eyes. With a nod, he quickly turned and left to head for the Utonium chateau. Bubbles slipped out a few minutes later to try to sneak into her house.

* * *

Buttercup broke the kiss first, blushing bright red in both embarrassment and shame. Brio was also flushed, as he backed away to her window until he was pressing against it. Buttercup breathed heavily and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Bri…I know we said we'd stop, but it just feels so…but Boomer, I can't ruin what we…Bri please forgive me," Brio nodded and held Buttercup's hand, resisting the urge to hug her again, knowing it would lead to them kissing another time. He slid the window open and peered out, to make sure he could fly away without being detected.

"I'm sorry too Buttercup…it's my fault for being selfish. I knew you and Boomer were together and I still did what I did," Buttercup sat on her bed and buried her face in her hands. The silver-haired boy couldn't leave her like this and only made it as far as sitting on the window sill before he lost his will to leave.

The two only sat in silence, drowning in their guilt before the sound of someone knocking on the front door jerked them violently from their self loathing. Brio glanced out the window and quickly stepped out, floating as he glanced back at Buttercup.

"That's Boomer…I'll talk to you some other time Buttercup…I'm sorry, but I don't want to hurt you guys…" Buttercup nodded as Brio stealthily slipped away. Buttercup tried to fix her appearance, but decided she could blame it on her basketball practice and hope Boomer didn't ask too many questions. Throwing her sanity to the wind, she opened her bedroom door and headed into the belly of the beast.

* * *

Normally, nights like this would find Buttercup and Boomer in each others arms doing things that could easily get one of them charged as a sexual offender. Tonight; however, they were seated on the couch as far as they could physically be from each other without falling off said piece of furniture. Buttercup had her knees drawn up to her chest and kept glancing at Boomer, who was breathing heavily with his chin on his hands, and his arms rested on his knees.

"Boomer?" Buttercup finally asked, snapping the thick tension like a twig caught beneath the tread of a tank. Boomer jerked upward and stared at Buttercup not unlike a deer caught in the high beams of a semi barreling down the interstate at several times the posted speed limit. He sighed shakily and rested his chin on his hands once more.

"Buttercup…w-we need to…I love you, you know?" Buttercup nodded, having a sinking feeling, almost like intuition telling her where this conversation was going to lead them. Part of her felt gratified that Boomer was the one bringing it up, while the other part of her died a miserable death as she felt the oncoming end of an untouchable era in her life.

"But I…I have to be honest, I can't lie anymore. I love you but…I love someone else too." Boomer looked at Buttercup, who stared down at the floor, her entire body shaking. Boomer shook as well, if not more terribly than Buttercup herself. He tried desperately to find any words that might soothe over what he had to say, but none came.

"I want to love you the rest of my life, but I know that you…that we…can't be our happiest together. I cannot…and I will not break up with you Buttercup, but I won't lie and tell you I haven't…" Boomer's voice cracked and his defenses began cracking under the pressure. Buttercup put her hand to her mouth and her eyes began watering. Yet, true to form, Buttercup held in her emotions and fought valiantly to keep from being the first to break.

"I just don't want to hurt you anymore," Boomer finally managed to croak out, tears leaking down his face. He buried his burning visage in his hands and shook helplessly. He couldn't break first, not when this was his idea in the first place. Buttercup watched him, a tear slipping by her and skidding down her cheek.

She rose to her feet and walked to Boomer, sitting next to him. He looked up at her, his eyes red and puffy, even though so few tears had worked their way through. Gently she wrapped her arms around his head and hugged it tight. His arms snaked around her waist and held on as if letting go even in the slightest would result in his eminent demise. Boomer cracked the moment he found Buttercup's embrace, sobbing wildly and crying pathetically into her chest. Buttercup hugged tighter, trying with all her might to prevent it, but nothing could stop the unstoppable.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore either…" she moaned as she burst into tears and began wailing. The two held each other tightly, desperately, trying with all their might to deny what had to come to pass. Their time together had changed their lives, and had brought them the greatest happiness they'd ever known. But their romance, like all good things…had finally come to an end.

* * *

Buttercup groaned and opened her eyes, peering painfully into the light leaking through her doorway. She noticed a familiar silhouette in the dim hall lighting and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Bubbles? What's wrong?" Bubbles opened the door the rest of the way and entered the bedroom, sitting on the end of the bed almost fearfully. Buttercup noticed her stiff posture and only took a few moments to realize why Bubbles had come to see her even when she had explicitly stated that she wanted to be alone the rest of the night.

"Bubbles, I," she couldn't continue, especially when her "younger" sister burst into tears and curled into a fetal position at the end of her bed.

"I'm so sorry Buttercup…I never meant to hurt you, I was so stupid," Buttercup sighed, feeling a dull anger starting to build up. It was doused instantly by a powerful silver water named Brio, and she could only feel sympathy for her sister, despite what she was saying. Buttercup climbed from beneath the covers and hesitated before she put a hand on Bubbles' shoulder.

Bubbles turned to her sister and looked for some sign that physical contact wasn't going to mean certain death. Upon finding what she had been seeking she hugged Buttercup and devolved into silent sobs, hugging tighter with each one. Buttercup simply held her and managed to find it in her heart to say:

"It'll be alright…I forgive you…"

* * *

Boomer shot another basket, groaning in frustration when he missed yet again. The only light around him was given off by the streetlamps still illuminating the deserted basketball court, giving Boomer the solitude he needed to sort out his feelings. It didn't take long; however, before Boomer realized that he wasn't as alone as he had been hoping.

Turning Boomer saw Brio, though he had no clue who the silver-haired boy was. Brio looked ashamed and had a hand behind his head in an apologetic way, while the other was up in a peaceful gesture.

"I'm guessing you're Boomer…I wish I could have met you before all of this happened," Boomer raised his eyebrow, then quickly lowered it and narrowed his eyes, realizing that this was the Brio Buttercup had told him about.

"So…you're Brio?" Brio nodded and maintained his very respectful and meager posture, which put Boomer at ease. At least the new boyfriend wasn't here to gloat over his victory of stealing Buttercup away. Boomer put his hands on his hips and sighed, dropping the basketball.

"Look I'm not big on grudges and vengeance and all of that Batman stuff," He began. Brio looked up, a rather shocked expression painted on his face.

"So…just take care of her…alright?" Brio nodded, as Boomer threw the ball over his shoulder, not even noticing when it sank cleanly into the basket. Boomer walked away to return home, while Brio watched him go. He smiled a bit, and nodded. He could see why Buttercup had fallen for him…and knew that despite this little mishap, things were going to work out for the better.


End file.
